Texans are 11.5-point underdogs to high-powered Rams

Deshaun Watson versus Jared Goff in L.A. on national television with two offenses that have gone from putting viewers to sleep to cannons going off every two minutes. The shoot-out that could have been only if it happened two weeks early now looks to be a one-sided affair on paper as the Rams are rolling under new head coach Sean McVay’s offensive scheme.

The Texans offense was rolling with Watson under center. Coach O’Brien had increased the tempo, started using long motions to draw defensive attention with playmakers versus short motion to get into position for blocking. Add in the return of Will Fuller to take advantage of undisciplined defenses off of play action led to Watson and the Texans lighting up the scoreboard.

All of that came to a screeching halt less than a week ago when Watson went down with a torn ACL in a non-contact play in practice. The Texans need to get back to a quicker tempo and using the weapons in place if they are going to keep starting Tom Savage.

The Texans defense has been a sore spot all season and especially with the loss of J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus up front. The secondary will be tested this week versus the Rams multi-faceted offense that is loaded with talent at all positions. Goff is getting comfortable in coach Sean McVay’s new spread offense that features a lot of quick hitters and forcing teams to play sideline to sideline and goal line to goal line each play. The front seven will need to get pressure on Goff to speed up his mental process and move him off his spot or it will be a long game in L.A.

The Rams enter the game at 6-2 and leading the NFC West in McVay’s first year. They are coming off an impressive throttling of the New York Giants where nothing went wrong on offense. The Rams have an improved line while adding Watson, Woods, Kupp, and Everett as weapons for Goff in the off season. The use of Todd Gurley out of the backfield as a receiver has been a difficult task for opposing offenses to defend and will put pressure on the Texans safeties and linebackers, which struggle in this area.

The Rams defense has been on the field more this season than last but have answered the bell by only giving up 19.4 points per game. They are good at putting many teams in passing downs late in the game and then attacking with a dominant front four. Led by Aaron Donald who once again is a force to be reckoned with, the Rams can and will put pressure on a porous Texans offensive line.

The last three games of the series have seen the Rams go 2-1 straight up and 3-0 ATS. The teams have hit the over in the two of those three games. Houston is 5-2 ATS in their last seven games while hitting the OVER in five of the last six. The only one not hitting the over was last week. The Rams are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games while being 5-1 straight up in their last six as well. The Rams have hit the OVER in seven of their last ten games and are averaging 37 points a game in their last three versus the Giants, Cardinals, and Jaguars.